Toddler not eating
Show your support
This may sound bizarre but have you tried giving her the same cutlery as yourselves (obviously just a kids version). My lo started refusing to eat and crying at dinner time until we started giving her her own fork and knife. After 18 months their calorific needs drop so they won’t eat as much but I would stop force feeding her because you don’t want her to end up with a negative association with food. Does she have any foods that she really likes? Offer her a safe food and a couple of different food so she has a choice of what to eat and also try finger foods that she can eat easily with her hands.
@Antonia she’s had a knife and fork for a while and unfortunately it makes no difference Also to clarify I’ve never force fed my daughter. I give in and give her weetabix and it’s the only thing she will eat. She has never been good with dinner for her entire life & even giving her finger food at dinner time means she hardly eats anything.
@Aditi thank you, that’s actually incredibly helpful & I will give that a go shortly at dinner time ☺️
Sorry I didn’t mean you force her and I should have worded it better but I couldn’t think of a different way to put it. There is no judgement from me and I can’t imagine what it’s like having to watch her barely eat anything and not worry! Have you heard of afrid before?
Can I suggest you feed hear earlier, she could be tired. We tried that and it worked.
@Joana thank you for the advice, we have tried this and it was so much worse. Unfortunately she’s always been a bad eater. I did try the advice above this evening and she ate a few bits but ultimately I ended up feeding her the only thing I knew she would eat as I can’t bare the thought of her being hungry.
@Antonia I haven’t heard of Arfid until you mentioned it. I will do some research into it but I believe it goes hand in hard with Autism/adhd and we already had suspicions of autism although I believe it’s too early to begin to get a diagnosis
Afrid and autism do often co-exist yeah and I think people with afrid are more likely to have autism. Unfortunately it will be really difficult for you to get any diagnosis for anything at the moment with her being so young and you might even have a fight to get someone to take you seriously and not just say it’s just toddler picky eating. Don’t give up though, someone will eventually take your concerns seriously.
Kids scream only when they are not able to make us understand what they wish for. Try newer things with her. For example, handing a small bowl to her may distract her to play and meanwhile she might open her mouth to eat. Or if there’s anything that she really enjoys eating (mine likes to have green peas, so that’s what we tell her to have, if she doesn’t wish to have anything else) if you are still breast feeding, also do it at night when she wakes up due to hunger. I hope this helps!